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Heineken hit over 'better' beer claim

Heineken has made substantial changes to its £7.5m advertising campaign after the Dutch brewer ran an advertisement featuring the actor Ray Liotta that said beer with a higher alcohol content was "better".

Ofcom, the communications regulator, today announced that the advertising campaign, which features Liotta - famous for playing a Mafia gangster in the film Goodfellas - breached regulations by giving undue prominence on the beer's alcoholic strength and suggesting stronger alcohol beer was better.

Heineken has agreed to drop the slogan "we believe in better" from its advertisement that urged drinkers to switch to its premium strength beer.

Last year the brewer scrapped its 3.4% alcohol by volume Heineken beer in favour of its premium lager, which has 5% ABV.

The TV and cinema advertisement features Liotta turning up in the dead of night on the doorstep of a man and berating him for not having respected his beer by finishing his pint.

The advertisement, created by the advertising agency Clemmow Hornby Inge, is a central plank of Heineken's relaunch, which includes a marketing budget of £25m this year.

Leslie Meredith, Heineken's UK director of marketing, told the Times: "It wasn't our intention to suggest that the beer was better because of the alcohol content.

"We're saying it's a better beer than the old Heineken cold filtered because of the ingredients, the brewing process and the fact that it's a genuine imported beer.

Ms Meredith said consultations with responsible drinking groups had emphasised that the company had to emphasise the increased ABV of the premium beer.